Vehicular control device, vehicular display system, and vehicular display control method

ABSTRACT

The vehicular control device for displaying on the vehicular display includes: a physical processor that operates a plurality of operating systems in parallel on the virtualization software; a trigger detection unit for detecting the activation trigger; and an allocation unit. When detecting the activation trigger to activate the first operating system that executes the priority application and the second operating system as the other operating system, the allocation unit temporarily allocates the first operating system to the virtual processor cores with the allocation amount more that the predetermined allocation amount of the virtual processor cores after the activation is completed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation application of InternationalPatent Application No. PCT/JP2020/018904 filed on May 12, 2020, whichdesignated the U.S. and claims the benefit of priority from JapanesePatent Application No. 2019-108849 filed on Jun. 11, 2019. The entiredisclosures of all of the above applications are incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a vehicular control device, avehicular display system, and a vehicular display control method.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally, a technique capable of executing a plurality ofoperating systems (i.e., OS: Operating System) in parallel is known. Forexample, Aa conceivable technique teaches that enables two OSs tooperate in parallel on a plurality of virtual processors that arelogically realized by a real processor. Such technology is calledvirtualization technology. Virtualization technology also allowsmultiple operating systems to share the same physical processor core.

SUMMARY

According to an example, a vehicular control device for displaying onthe vehicular display includes: a physical processor that operates aplurality of operating systems in parallel on the virtualizationsoftware; a trigger detection unit for detecting the activation trigger;and an allocation unit. When detecting the activation trigger toactivate the first operating system that executes the priorityapplication and the second operating system as the other operatingsystem, the allocation unit temporarily allocates the first operatingsystem to the virtual processor cores with the allocation amount morethat the predetermined allocation amount of the virtual processor coresafter the activation is completed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In thedrawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of avehicular display system;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration ofthe integrated ECU;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a conceptual configuration ofa physical processor of the main microcomputer according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of ahypervisor regarding temporary allocation;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of an allocationamount at the operating time;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of temporaryallocation-related processing in the hypervisor;

FIG. 7 is a time chart showing an example of the relationship betweenthe operating state of the RTOS and the general-purpose OS and thechange in the allocation of virtual cores in the hypervisor; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a conceptual configuration ofa physical processor of the main microcomputer according to the secondembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

When a conceivable technology that enables a plurality of OSs to operatein parallel is used for a vehicular control device (hereinafter, simplya vehicular control device) for displaying on a display in the vehicleinterior, the following problems can be considered.

For example, when multiple OSs share the same physical processor core(hereinafter referred to as physical core) and operate in parallel, andwhen some OSs freeze, the physical core accessed by the frozen OSs isnot released, and there may be a difficulty that other OSs sharing thesame physical core will not be able to operate. In a vehicular controldevice, high reliability is required for the operation of an OSexecuting an application that requires particularly high reliability,such as an application for drawing a meter image. Therefore, it isconceivable to improve reliability by allocating a unique physical coreto each of a plurality of OSs.

However, an OS for executing an application that requires particularlyhigh reliability is also required to have an activation performance forexecuting the application more quickly when the vehicular control deviceis activated. For example, when the vehicular control device isactivated, it is required to execute the application for displaying themeter image more quickly to display the meter image.

In view of the above points, a vehicular control device, a vehiculardisplay system, and a vehicular display control method are provided thatenable a display content to be displayed quickly when the vehicularcontrol device is activated to be displayed more quickly with improvingthe reliability of these operating systems when the technology forexecuting multiple operating systems in parallel is used for a vehicularcontrol device that displays on a display in the vehicle compartment.

According to the first aspect of the present embodiments, a vehicularcontrol device for displaying on a display arranged in a vehiclecompartment includes: a physical processor for operating a plurality ofoperating systems in parallel on virtualization software byvirtualization technology; a trigger detection unit that detects anactivation trigger of the vehicular control device; and an allocationunit. The plurality of physical processor cores included in the physicalprocessor are abstracted into virtual processor cores by thevirtualization technology. The plurality of the operating systemsincludes: a first operating system, which is the operating system forexecuting the priority application, which is an application fordisplaying the display content to be displayed preferentially when thevehicular control device is activated; and a second operating system asan other operating system. When the trigger detection unit detects theactivation trigger to activate the first operating system and the secondoperating system, the allocation unit executes a temporary allocationthat temporarily allocates the first operating system to the virtualprocessor core with the allocation amount of the virtual processor coremore than the preliminarily set allocation amount of the virtualprocessor core as an initial allocation amount after the activation ofthe first operating system is completed.

According to the second aspect of the present embodiments, the vehiculardisplay control method for causing the vehicular control device todisplay on the display arranged in a vehicle compartment includes:detecting the activation trigger of the vehicular control device;abstracting a plurality of physical processor cores included in aphysical processor capable of operating a plurality of operating systemsin parallel on virtualization software by virtualization technology intoa virtual processor core by the virtualization technology; and, whendetecting the activation trigger and activating the first operatingsystem and the second operating system, executing a temporary allocationthat temporarily allocates the first operating system to the virtualprocessor core with the allocation amount of the virtual processor coremore than the preliminarily set allocation amount of the virtualprocessor core as an initial allocation amount after the activation ofthe first operating system is completed. The plurality of the operatingsystems includes: a first operating system, which is the operatingsystem for executing the priority application, which is an applicationfor displaying the display content to be displayed preferentially whenthe vehicular control device is activated; and a second operating systemas an other operating system.

According to these, when the activation trigger of the vehicular controldevice is detected and the first operating system and the secondoperating system capable of operating in parallel on the virtualizationsoftware are activated, a temporary allocation is executed such that thetemporary allocation temporarily allocates the first operating system tothe virtual processor core with the allocation amount of the virtualprocessor core more than the preliminarily set allocation amount of thevirtual processor core as an initial allocation amount after theactivation of the first operating system is completed. Therefore, it ispossible to shorten the time required to complete the activation of thefirst operating system as compared with the case where the temporaryallocation is not performed. Therefore, it is possible to more quicklyexecute the priority application that displays the display content thatshould be preferentially displayed when the vehicular control device isstarted, which is executed in the first operating system when thevehicular control device is activated.

Since the plurality of physical processor cores included in the physicalprocessor are abstracted into virtual processor cores by virtualizationtechnology, the allocation amount can be temporarily changed. Since thetemporary allocation is temporary, it is possible to allocate a uniquephysical core for each operating system at the time of operation afterthe activation of the first operating system and the second operatingsystem is completed. Therefore, it is possible to improve thereliability of each operating system.

As a result, when a technology that enables multiple operating systemsto operate in parallel is used for a vehicular control device thatdisplays on a display in the vehicle compartment, it becomes possible todisplay the display content that should be displayed quickly when thevehicular control device is activated while improving the reliability ofthese operating systems.

According to the third aspect of the present embodiments, the vehiculardisplay system includes a display (20, 30) provided in the compartmentof the vehicle and a vehicular control device (10) according to thefirst aspect for controlling the display to display the content.

According to this, since the above-mentioned vehicular control device isincluded, when a technology that enables a plurality of operatingsystems to operate in parallel is used for a vehicular control devicethat displays on a display in the vehicle compartment, it becomespossible to display the display content that should be displayed quicklywhen the vehicular control device is started while improving thereliability of the system.

Multiple embodiments will be described for disclosure hereinafter withreference to the drawings. For convenience of description, the partshaving the same functions as the parts shown in the drawings used in thedescription up to that point in multiple embodiments may be designatedby the same reference numerals and the description thereof may beomitted. Description in another applicable embodiment may be referred tofor such a portion denoted by the identical reference sign.

Embodiment 1

<Outline Configuration of Display System 1 for Vehicles>

The following will describe a first embodiment of the present disclosurewith reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the vehiculardisplay system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Thevehicular display system 1 is used in a vehicle. In the following, acase where the vehicular display system 1 is used in an automobile willbe described as an example. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicular displaysystem 1 includes an integrated ECU 10, a center information display(hereinafter, CID) 20, and a meter multi-information display(hereinafter, meter MID) 30.

The CID 20 is a display provided in the center cluster in thecompartment of the vehicle. As the CID 20, a display capable of drawingan image may be used. As the CID 20, a liquid crystal display, anorganic EL display, or the like can be used. The CID 20 mainly displaysinformation on functions having characteristics that require convenienceand comfort rather than safety and security. As an example, the CID 20mainly displays information on infotainment functions such as navigationinformation, audio information, and air conditioning information. Theinfotainment function referred to here is a function related toconvenience and comfort other than safety and security.

The navigation information is information related to the navigationfunction, such as a route guidance image. The audio information is animage or the like related to the operation of the audio device. The airconditioning information is an image or the like related to theoperation of the air conditioning equipment. In addition to theinfotainment function information, the CID 20 also displays informationon the startup screen. The information on the start-up screen is, forexample, an image related to the hospitality effect when the vehicledoor is opened (hereinafter, welcome image), an image related to theopening effect when the vehicle is started (hereinafter, opening image),and the like. The welcome image is an image displayed when the vehicledoor is opened, and is an image displayed before the vehicle isactivated. The opening image is an image displayed when the vehicle isactivated. The welcome image and the opening image may be configured tobe displayed as an animation, for example, by displaying a plurality ofstill images in chronological order. The air conditioning information isan image or the like related to the operation of the air conditioningequipment.

The meter MID30 is a display provided in front of the driver's seat inthe compartment of the vehicle. As an example, the meter MID30 may beconfigured to be provided on the meter panel. As the meter MID 30, adisplay capable of drawing an image may be used. As the meter MID 30, aliquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like can be used.The meter MID 30 mainly displays information on functions havingcharacteristics that require safety and security rather than convenienceand comfort. As an example, the meter MID 30 mainly displays informationon safety and security functions such as meter information.

The meter information is an image or the like related to the meterdisplay. In addition to the information on the safety and securityfunction, the meter MID30 also displays information on the startupscreen, simplified navigation information, and the like. The informationon the startup screen is, for example, the above-mentioned welcomeimage, opening image, and the like, and the welcome image and theopening image displayed on the meter MID30 may be or may not be the sameas the welcome image and opening image displayed on the CID20. Thesimplified navigation information is information of the infotainmentfunction, which is more simplified than the navigation informationdisplayed by the CID 20. For example, it is a simplified route guidanceimage such as a display showing the next traveling direction.

The integrated ECU 10 is an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) thatintegrates a function of controlling the CID 20 and a function ofcontrolling the meter MID 30. The integrated ECU 10 is connected to theCID 20 and the meter MID 30, and draws and displays various images onthe CID 20 and the meter MID 30.

The integrated ECU 10 is also connected to the in-vehicle LAN, andinformation from a sensor connected to the in-vehicle LAN, another ECU,or the like is input. The image drawn by the integrated ECU 10 on theCID 20 and the meter MID 30 corresponds to the output information of theintegrated ECU 10. The information input to the integrated ECU 10 viathe in-vehicle LAN corresponds to the input information of theintegrated ECU 10. The input information includes vehicle informationsuch as vehicle speed and mileage, digital TV image information,smartphone cooperation information linked with a smartphone, and thelike. The integrated ECU 10 has a configuration in which inputinformation and output information are collectively managed, and theinput source and output destination of various information can be freelyrearranged.

The integrated ECU 10 mainly includes, for example, a microcomputer(hereinafter, a microcomputer) with a processor, a memory, an I/O, and abus connecting these. The processor referred to here is a physicalprocessor (hereinafter referred to as a physical processor) including anarithmetic unit, registers, and the like. The integrated ECU 10 executesvarious processes related to the displaying of an image on the CID 20and the meter MID 30 by executing a control program stored in thenon-volatile memory. In particular, in the present embodiment, theintegrated ECU 10 enables a plurality of OSs to operate in parallel onthe virtualization software, and enables each of the plurality of OSs toexecute processing related to image display. The integrated ECU 10corresponds to a vehicular control device. Further, the executing of theprocess in the integrated ECU 10 corresponds to the executing of thevehicular display control method. The memory referred to here is anon-transitory tangible storage medium for storing programs and datathat can be read by a computer non-transitory way. The non-transitorytangible storage medium is realized by a semiconductor memory, amagnetic disk, or the like. The details of the integrated ECU 10 will bedescribed below.

<Outline Configuration of Integrated ECU 10>

Subsequently, an example of the schematic configuration of theintegrated ECU 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2shows an example of a configuration for displaying an image on the CID20 and the meter MID 30 for convenience. The integrated ECU 10 includesa main microcomputer 100, a sub-microcomputer 110, a first image outputunit 120, and a second image output unit 130. In addition, a part or allof the functions executed by the integrated ECU 10 may be configured asa hardware, such as one or more of ICs or the like.

The main microcomputer 100 controls the image to be displayed on the CID20 and the image to be displayed on the meter MID 30. As an example, themain microcomputer 100 displays a content image (hereinafter, priorityimage) that should be preferentially displayed when the integrated ECU10 is activated. The priority here means, for example, to display theinformation prior to the information of the infotainment function. Anexample of priority display content is the display of information onsafety and security functions that should be displayed prior to otherdisplays, such as meter display. An application for displaying thepriority display content is hereinafter referred to as a priorityapplication. Examples of the priority image include an image captured bya rear view camera, and the like, and it will be described below bytaking a meter display as an example.

The sub-microcomputer 110 has a function of controlling the on/off ofthe main microcomputer 100 and the like. When the sub-microcomputer 110detects the activation trigger of the integrated ECU 10, thesub-microcomputer 110 activates the main microcomputer 100. Thissub-microcomputer 110 corresponds to the trigger detection unit.Examples of the activation trigger include a rise in the power supplyvoltage above a certain level, acquisition of a wake-up signal from thein-vehicle LAN, and the like. The activation trigger occurs when theuser starts using the vehicle. The time when the user starts using thevehicle includes the time when the vehicle is activated by turning onthe switch (hereinafter referred to as the power switch) for startingthe internal combustion engine or the motor generator of the vehicle,the vehicle door opening time when the vehicle door is opened, and soon.

The first image output unit 120 outputs an image to be displayed on theCID 20 generated by the main microcomputer 100 to the CID 20, and drawsthis image on the CID 20. As the first image output unit 120, forexample, an IC may be used. The second image output unit 130 outputs animage to be displayed on the meter MID 30 generated by the mainmicrocomputer 100 to the meter MID 30, and draws this image on the meterMID 30. As the second image output unit 130, for example, an IC may beused.

Further, the integrated ECU 10 abstracts the hardware resources of themain microcomputer 100 by virtualization technology, and enables asingle main microcomputer 100 to operate a plurality of operatingsystems (hereinafter, OS) in parallel. The integrated ECU 10 abstractsthe physical processor of the main microcomputer 100 by executing thecontrol program of the virtualization software stored in thenon-volatile memory, and enables a plurality of OSs to operate inparallel on the virtualization software.

More specifically, the integrated ECU 10 operates each OS by abstractingthe physical processor into a plurality of virtual processor cores byvirtualization technology and assigning different virtual processorcores (hereinafter, virtual cores) to each OS. Virtualization softwareuses the resources of the physical processor in a time-division manneron a dock-by-clock basis to operate as if multiple cores (that is,virtual cores) exist virtually, so that the OS can be operated bydifferent virtual cores. The physical processor may include a pluralityof physical processor cores (hereinafter referred to as a physicalcores). The number of physical cores included in the physical processormay be a plurality, and the following description will be made assumingthat the number of physical cores is four in the present embodiment.

The virtualization software may manage the virtual core by associatingit with a thread (hereinafter, logical core), which is the minimumprocessing unit executed by the physical core. For example, when thephysical core of the present embodiment uses Simultaneous MultithreadingTechnology (SMT) to execute two threads in parallel on one physicalcore, the number of logical cores is eight. On the other hand, when thephysical cores of the present embodiment do not execute two threads inparallel on one physical core, the number of logical cores is four,which is the same as the number of physical cores.

The link between the virtual core and the logical core may not benecessarily limited to a 1:1 ratio, and a plurality of virtual cores maybe linked to one logical core. In the present embodiment, forconvenience, the following description will be given by taking as anexample a case where a plurality of logical cores are not associatedwith one virtual core. Further, the total amount of virtual cores thatthe virtualization software can allocate to the OS (hereinafter, theallowable total amount) is not the same as the total amount of resourcesof the physical processor. For example, the total allowable amount ofvirtual cores does not include the resources required for the operationof virtualization software. In addition, even if the number of logicalcores that can be accessed by one OS is the total number of logicalcores, so that the allowable total amount of virtual cores is allocated,the resource usage rate of all logical cores does not reach 100%.

The virtualization software is dedicated to virtualization that managesthe operating state of the virtual processor core and realizesvirtualization. As an example, the case where a hypervisor (Hypervisor)is used as the virtualization software will be described below as anexample. In the following, a case where two OSs can be operated inparallel on a hypervisor by virtualization technology will be describedas an example.

<Conceptual Configuration of the Physical Processor 101 of the MainMicrocomputer 100>

Here, an example of the conceptual configuration of the physicalprocessor 101 of the main microcomputer 100 according to the firstembodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3. Here, a casewhere a real-time operating system (hereinafter, RTOS) 103 havingreal-time characteristics and a general-purpose operating system(hereinafter, general-purpose OS) 104 are used as the two OSs will bedescribed as an example. The RTOS 103 may be, for example, QNX(registered trademark). The general-purpose OS 104 may be, for example,Linux (registered trademark).

The main microcomputer 100 mounts a hypervisor 102 on a physicalprocessor 101 including four physical cores 1011, 1012, 1013, and 1014.Hereinafter, the case where the physical cores 1011 to 1014 of thepresent embodiment do not execute two threads in parallel on onephysical core will be described as an example. Therefore, the physicalcores 1011 to 1014 are logical cores, respectively. That is, there arefour logical cores.

The hypervisor 102 can operate the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS104 in parallel on the virtual core from which the physical processor101 is extracted. Here, the hypervisor 102 and the RTOS 103 have acommon micro-kernel (hereinafter referred to as a kernel). The RTOS 103corresponds to the first operating system, and the general-purpose OS104 corresponds to the second operating system.

Since the RTOS 103 has real-time characteristics, it executes theabove-mentioned application related to the safety/security function. Theabove-mentioned priority application may be included in the applicationrelated to this safety/security function. On the other hand, thegeneral-purpose OS 104 executes an application related to theabove-mentioned infotainment function. The RTOS 103 generates an imagerelated to the safety/security function as the application related tothe safety/security function is executed. The RTOS 103 generates apriority image such as a meter display when executing a priorityapplication. The general-purpose OS 104 generates an image related tothe infotainment function as the application related to the infotainmentfunction is executed.

<Operation when the Main Microcomputer 100 is Activated>

Subsequently, the operation at the time of starting the mainmicrocomputer 100 will be described with reference to the time chart ofFIG. 4. Hereinafter, a case where an image is displayed on the meter MID30 will be described as an example.

The activation of the main microcomputer 100 is started by thesub-microcomputer 110 that has detected the activation trigger. When themain microcomputer 100 is activated, the construction of the hypervisor102 is first started. Here, since the kernel of the RTOS 103 is commonto that of the hypervisor 102, preparations for activating the RTOS 103are started at the same time as the establishment of the hypervisor 102.Subsequently, when the establishment of the hypervisor 102 proceeds tothe stage where the preparation for activating the general-purpose OS104 can be started, the preparation for activating the general-purposeOS 104 is started. Since the preparation for activating thegeneral-purpose OS 104 cannot be started unless the construction of thehypervisor 102 proceeds, the preparation for activating thegeneral-purpose OS 104 is started later than the preparation foractivating the RTOS 103.

When the construction of the hypervisor 102 progresses and thepreparation for activating the RTOS 103 reaches the stage where thepriority application can be executed, the RTOS 103 executes the priorityapplication on the hypervisor 102. The construction of the hypervisor102 is completed by booting the kernel and completing the activation ofa plurality of drivers. The priority application can be executed evenbefore the construction of the hypervisor 102 is completed.

As an example, the RTOS 103 can execute a plurality of applicationsincluding the priority application when the startup is completed, andcan execute the priority application before the startup is completed.The feature that the priority application can be executed is definedbelow as the completion of activation of the priority application. Whenthe RTOS 103 is an OS that does not execute anything other than thepriority application, the completion of activating the priorityapplication may be the completion of the activating the RTOS 103.

When the RTOS 103 executes the priority application, the RTOS 103generates a priority image. For example, when the RTOS 103 generates animage for meter display as a priority image, the second image outputunit 130 outputs this image to the meter MID 30 and draws an image formeter display on the meter MID 30.

Since the preparation for activating the general-purpose OS 104 isstarted later than the preparation for activating the RTOS 103, theapplication can be executed on the general-purpose OS 104 later than theRTOS 103 generates the priority image. The general-purpose OS 104executes an application for displaying information on the infotainmentfunction, and generates an image for displaying the information on theinfotainment function (hereinafter, an infotainment-type image).

For example, when the general-purpose OS 104 generates an infotainmentimage, the first image output unit 120 outputs the infotainment image tothe CID 20 and draws the infotainment image on the CID 20. Regarding theinfotainment image to be displayed on the meter MID30, for example, theRTOS 103 synthesizes the image generated by the RTOS 103 and theinfotainment image generated by the general-purpose OS 104, and outputsthe synthesized image to the second image output unit 130.

<Outline Configuration of Hypervisor 102>

In the main microcomputer 100, when the RTOS 103 and the general-purposeOS 104 are activated, the hypervisor 102 temporarily increases theamount of virtual cores allocated to the RTOS 103 to execute thetemporary allocation, thereby accelerating the progress of preparationfor activating the RTOS 103. Here, the configuration of the hypervisor102 regarding temporary allocation will be described with reference toFIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, the hypervisor 102 includes an allocationunit 1021 and an activation instruction unit 1022 as functional blocks.

The allocation unit 1021 executes the temporary allocation fortemporarily allocating more virtual cores to the RTOS 103 than thevirtual core allocation amount preliminarily set as the allocationamount after the activation of the RTOS 103 is completed. As a result,it is possible to shorten the time required to complete the activationof the RTOS 103 as compared with the case where the temporary allocationis not performed. Therefore, the priority image to be displayed by thepriority application executed by the RTOS 103 can be displayed morequickly. As a result, the display content to be displayed quickly whenthe integrated ECU 10 is activated can be displayed more quickly. Forexample, the allocation unit 1021 may be configured to change theallocation of the virtual cores to the OS by changing the associationbetween the OS and the virtual core. In this embodiment, since thekernels of the hypervisor 102 and the RTOS 103 are common, the RTOS 103may control the allocation unit 1021.

The allocation amount after the activation of the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104 is completed (hereinafter, the allocation amountduring operation) may be fixed and set in advance so that one or moredifferent physical cores 1011 to 1014 are allocated to each of the RTOS103 and the general-purpose OS 104. In the example of the presentembodiment, the virtual core assigned to the RTOS 103 may be fixed andset in advance to a virtual core that is associated with the logicalcore corresponding to the physical cores 1011 and 1012 but notassociated with the logical core corresponding to the physical cores1013 and 1014. On the other hand, the virtual core allocated to thegeneral-purpose S104 may be fixed and set in advance to a virtual corethat is associated with the logical core corresponding to the physicalcores 1013 and 1014 but not associated with the logical corecorresponding to the physical cores 101 and 1012.

According to this, when the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104 areoperated after the activation is completed, the reliability of the RTOS103 and the general-purpose OS 104 can be improved by allocating aunique physical core to each of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS104. As a result, while improving the reliability of the RTOS 103 andthe general-purpose OS 104, it is possible to more quickly display thedisplay content that should be displayed when the integrated ECU 10 isactivated.

Further, the allocation amount during operation may be fixed and set inadvance so that one or more different physical cores 1011 to 1014 areallocated to each of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104, andthe physical cores sharing the cache are allocated to the same OS. Thisis because if the physical cores that share the cache are allocated todifferent OSs, the physical cores to which the frozen OS was accessingwill not be released, and other OSs, to which the physical cores thatshared the cache with this physical core is allocated, may not be ableto operate.

For example, in the example of the present embodiment, when the physicalcore 1011 and the physical core 1002 share the cache, and the physicalcore 1013 and the physical core 1014 share the cache, the following maybe performed. The virtual core associated with the logical corecorresponding to the physical core 1011 and the virtual core associatedwith the logical core corresponding to the physical core 1012 may not beallocated to different OSs. Further, the virtual core associated withthe logical core corresponding to the physical core 1013 and the virtualcore associated with the logical core corresponding to the physical core1014 may not be allocated to different OSs.

According to this, it becomes possible to further improve thereliability of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104. As a result,while improving the reliability of the RTOS 103 and the general-purposeOS 104, it is possible to more quickly display the display content thatshould be displayed when the integrated ECU 10 is activated.

Here, an example of the allocation amount during operation will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, a case where one logicalcore L1 to L4 corresponds to each of the physical cores 1011 to 1014will be taken as an example. In FIG. 5, a case where two virtual coresV1 to V8 correspond to each of the logical cores L1 to L4 will be takenas an example. The logical core L1 corresponds to the physical core 1011and the virtual cores V1 and V2 are associated with the logical core L1.The logical core L2 corresponds to the physical core 1012, and thevirtual cores V3 and V4 are associated with the logical core L2. Thelogical core L3 corresponds to the physical core 1013, and the virtualcores V5 and V6 are associated with the logical core L3. The logicalcore L4 corresponds to the physical core 1014, and the virtual cores V7and V8 are associated with the logical core L4. In FIG. 5, the cache isshared between the physical core 1011 and the physical core 1012, andbetween the physical core 1013 and the physical core 1014.

In the example of FIG. 5, the virtual cores in the same combination suchas the combination of virtual cores V1 and V2, the combination ofvirtual cores V3 and V4, the combination of virtual cores V5 and V6, andthe combination of virtual cores V7 and V8 are not allocated todifferent OSs, so that one or more different physical cores 1011 to 1014are allocated to each of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104,respectively. Further, in the example of FIG. 5, the allocation thatdoes not allocate the virtual cores in the same combination such as thecombination of virtual cores V1 to V4 and the combination of virtualcores V5 to V8 to different OSs is equal to the allocation of thevirtual cores that allocates one or more different physical cores 1011to 1014 to each of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104,respectively, and allocates the physical cores that share the cache tothe same OS.

It may be preferable that the allocation unit 1021 allocates the entireamount of virtual cores that can be allocated to the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104 to the RTOS 103 at the time of temporaryallocation. Allocating the total amount of virtual cores that can beallocated to the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104 as used hereindoes not always mean that the total amount of resources of the physicalprocessor 101 is allocated. It means that the resources of the physicalprocessor 101, excluding the resources required other than the RTOS 103and the general-purpose OS 104 for

such as the resources for operations of the hypervisor 102, areallocated. As an example, the virtual cores are allocated such that theRTOS 103 may be configured to use all the logical cores, while thegeneral-purpose OS 104 may be configured not to use any logical cores.Even when the RTOS 103 is made to use all the logical cores, theresource usage rate of all the logical cores does not reach 100%.

According to this, the resources of the physical processor 101 that canbe allocated to the OS that operates on the hypervisor 102 can beallocated to the activation preparation of the RTOS 103. Therefore, itis possible to further shorten the time required to complete theactivation of the RTOS 103. Therefore, the priority image to bedisplayed by the priority application executed by the RTOS 103 can bedisplayed more quickly. As a result, the display content to be displayedquickly when the integrated ECU 10 is activated can be displayed morequickly.

It may be preferable that the allocation unit 1021 starts the temporaryallocation before the preparation for activating the general-purpose OS104 is started. According to this, the resources of the physicalprocessor 101 that can be allocated to the OS that operates on thehypervisor 102 can be concentrated to the activation preparation of theRTOS 103 without wasting resources. Therefore, it is possible to furthershorten the time required to complete the activation of the RTOS 103.

It may be preferable that the allocation unit 1021 terminates thetemporary allocation at the latest when the activation of the RTOS 103is completed. According to this, after displaying the display content tobe displayed more quickly when the integrated ECU 10 is activated, thetemporary allocation is finished so that the resources of the physicalprocessor 101 to be allocated to the general-purpose OS 104 areincreased, and the time required for completing the activation of thegeneral-purpose OS 104 is reduced.

The allocation unit 1021 may preferably terminates the temporaryallocation when the activation of the priority application is completed.According to this, after displaying the display content to be displayedmore quickly when the integrated ECU 10 is activated, the temporaryallocation is finished more quickly so that the resources of thephysical processor 101 to be allocated to the general-purpose OS 104 areincreased, and the time required for completing the activation of thegeneral-purpose OS 104 further is reduced.

After the activation of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104 iscompleted, the allocation unit 1021 may preferably allocate theabove-mentioned operating allocation amount, which is fixed and set inadvance as the allocation amount after completing the activation of theRTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104, to the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104, respectively. According to this, when the RTOS103 and the general-purpose OS 104 are operated after the activation iscompleted, the reliability of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS104 can be improved by allocating a unique physical core to each of theRTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104.

After the activation of the priority application is completed, theallocation unit 1021 allocates the above-mentioned operating allocationamount, which is fixed and set in advance as the allocation amount aftercompleting the activation of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS104, may be preferably allocated to the RTOS 103 and the general-purposeOS 104, respectively. According to this, after the activation of theapplication executed by the RTOS 103 is completed, the reliability atthe time of executing the application by the RTOS 103 can be improved byallocating an unique physical core to each of the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104. The activation instruction unit 1023 starts theactivation preparation of the general-purpose OS 104 based on theprogress of the construction of the hypervisor 102 and the enablement ofstarting the activation preparation of the general-purpose OS 104. Itmay be preferable that the activation instruction unit 1023 does notstart the activation preparation of the general-purpose OS 104 until theactivation preparation of the RTOS 103 reaches a predetermined stage.The predetermined stage referred to here may be, for example, a stage atwhich the priority application can be executed on the RTOS 103.According to this, it is possible to concentrate the hardware resourcesof the physical processor 101 on the preparation for activating the RTOS103 until the preparation for activating the RTOS 103 reaches apredetermined stage, and the priority application on the RTOS 103 can beexecuted more quickly.

<Temporary Allocation Related Processing in Hypervisor 102>

Here, an example of a flow of processing related to temporary allocationin the hypervisor 102 (hereinafter, temporary allocation relatedprocessing) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6.Further, the relationship between the operating state of the RTOS 103and the general-purpose OS 104 and the change in the allocation of thevirtual cores in the hypervisor 102 will be described using the timechart of FIG. 7. The flowchart of FIG. 6 may be configured to start whenthe activation of the main microcomputer 100 is started by thesub-microcomputer 110 that has detected the start trigger.

First, in step S1, the construction of the hypervisor 102 and thepreparation for activating the RTOS 103 are started. In step S2, theallocation unit 1021 allocates the entire amount of virtual cores thatcan be allocated to the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104 to theRTOS 103. In the example of this embodiment, the temporary allocationfor allocating the virtual cores is started such that the RTOS 103 iscontrolled to use all four logical cores, while the general-purpose OS104 is controlled not to use any logical cores. That is, the virtualcore is allocated with a ration of RTOS 103:general-purpose OS 104=4:0.

As shown in FIG. 7, preparations for activating the RTOS 103 are startedat the same time as the construction of the hypervisor 102 is started.Then, when the preparation for activating the RTOS 103 is started, thetemporary allocation is started.

In step S3, when the activation of the priority application in the RTOS103 is completed (YES in S3), the process proceeds to step S4. On theother hand, when the activation of the priority application in the RTOS103 is not completed (NO in S3), the process of S3 is repeated.

As shown in FIG. 7, the activation of the priority application in theRTOS 103 is completed after the preparation for activating the RTOS 103is started and before the activation of the RTOS 103 is completed. InFIG. 7, a configuration in which a plurality of applications including apriority application can be executed when the activation of the RTOS 103is completed is described as an example. When the RTOS 103 is an OS thatdoes not execute anything other than the priority application, thecompletion of activating the priority application may be the completionof the activating the RTOS 103.

In step S4, the allocation unit 1021 ends the temporary allocation. Instep S5, the allocation unit 1021 starts the operation-time allocationthat allocates the operation-time allocation amount, which is theallocation amount of the virtual cores after the activation of the RTOS103 and the general-purpose OS 104, to each of the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104. In the example of this embodiment, the virtualcores are allocated so that the RTOS 103 uses two logical cores, whilethe general-purpose OS 104 uses two logical cores that the RTOS 103 doesnot use. That is, the virtual core is allocated with a ration of RTOS103:general-purpose OS 104=2:2.

In step S6, the activation instruction unit 1022 starts the activationpreparation of the general-purpose OS 104. In step S7, the activation ofboth the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104 is completed, and thetemporary allocation-related processing is completed.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the activation of the priority application iscompleted, the preparation for activating the general-purpose OS 104 isstarted. In addition, when the activation of the priority application iscompleted, the temporary allocation ends and the operation-timeallocation is started. For example, the preparation for activating thegeneral-purpose OS 104 may be configured to be started after theallocation at the time of operation is started. Further, when theactivation of the priority application is completed and the display ofthe priority image by the priority application is first started on themeter MID 30 at the time of activating the integrated ECU 10, thetemporary allocation may be terminated. For example, at the time whenthe priority image is displayed, the temporary allocation may becompleted.

After the activation of the RTOS 103 is completed, the activation of thegeneral-purpose OS 104 is completed with a delay. The general-purpose OS104 that has been activated will display infotainment-type images. Here,the operating-time allocation amount does not vary even after theactivation of both the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104 iscompleted after the operating-time allocation is performed after thetemporary allocation is completed. The operating-time allocation amountis fixed and maintained in advance to the predetermined allocationamount during the operation of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS104. As a result, the reliability of the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104 is improved by continuing to allocate a uniquephysical core to each of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS 104even during the operation of the RTOS 103 and the general-purpose OS104. In order to improve the reliability of the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104 during the operation of the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104, it may not be preferable to continue thetemporary allocation until the operation of both the RTOS 103 and thegeneral-purpose OS 104.

In the present embodiment, the meter display and the image captured bythe rear view camera are taken as examples as the priority image,alternatively, the configuration may include an activation screen suchas an opening image to be displayed on the CID 20 and the meter MID 30at the start of use of the vehicle.

Embodiment 1

According to the configuration of the first embodiment, as describedabove, it is possible to shorten the time required to complete theactivation of the RTOS 103 as compared with the case where the temporaryallocation is not performed. Therefore, when the integrated ECU 10 isactivated, the priority application executed by the RTOS 103 can beexecuted more quickly. As a result, the display content to be displayedquickly when the integrated ECU 10 is activated can be displayed morequickly.

Further, since the plurality of physical cores 1011 to 1014 included inthe physical processor 101 are abstracted into virtual cores by thevirtualization technology, the resources of the physical processor 101are temporarily concentrated on the RTOS 103 by temporary allocation.According to the configuration of the first embodiment, after thetemporary allocation is completed, the virtual core allocation ischanged so as to allocate the unique physical core to each of the RTOS103 and the general-purpose OS 104, so that the reliability of each OSis improved.

As a result, when a technology that enables multiple operating systemsto operate in parallel is used for a vehicular control device thatdisplays on a display in the vehicle compartment, it becomes possible todisplay the display content that should be displayed quickly when thevehicular control device is activated while improving the reliability ofthese operating systems.

Second Embodiment

In the first embodiment, a configuration is shown in which the kernelused by the hypervisor 102, which is virtualization software, and theRTOS 103 operating on the hypervisor 102 is common, alternatively, thepresent embodiment may not be necessarily limited to this. For example,the OS used by the virtualization software may have a configuration thatis not common to the kernel used by any OS running on the virtualizationsoftware (hereinafter, embodiment 2). The vehicular display system 1 ofthe second embodiment is similar to the vehicular display system 1 ofthe second embodiment, except that the conceptual configuration of thephysical processor 101 is partially different.

Here, an example of the conceptual configuration of the physicalprocessor 101 according to the second embodiment will be described withreference to FIG. 8. Here, a case where a hypervisor (Hypervisor) isused as the virtualization software and an RTOS 103 a and ageneral-purpose OS 104 are used as the two OSs will be described as anexample. The kernel of the hypervisor 102 a is not common to both theRTOS 103 a and the general-purpose OS 104. The hypervisor 102 a and RTOS103 a are similar to the hypervisor 102 and the RTOS 103 of the firstembodiment, except that the kernels are not common to each other.

The RTOS 103 a may be, for example, QNX. The general-purpose OS 104 maybe, for example, Linux. The main microcomputer 100 mounts a hypervisor102 a on a physical processor 101 including four physical cores 1011,1012, 1013, and 1014. Hereinafter, the case where the physical cores1011 to 1014 of the present embodiment do not execute two threads inparallel on one physical core will be described as an example.Therefore, the physical cores 1011 to 1014 are logical cores,respectively.

The hypervisor 102 a can operate the RTOS 103 a and the general-purposeOS 104 in parallel on the virtual core from which the physical processor101 is extracted. Here, the hypervisor 102 a and the RTOS 103 a do nothave a common kernel as described above. This RTOS 103 a alsocorresponds to the first operating system.

In the first embodiment, the hypervisor 102 and the RTOS 103 have acommon kernel, while the hypervisor 102 and the general-purpose OS 104do not have a common kernel. Therefore, when the integrated ECU 10 isactivated, the preparation for activating the RTOS 103 starts prior tothe preparation for activating the general-purpose OS 104. On the otherhand, in the second embodiment, since neither the RTOS 103 a nor thegeneral-purpose OS 104 has the same kernel as the hypervisor 102 a, itis necessary to start the preparation for activating the RTOS 103 abefore the preparation for activating the general-purpose OS 104 whenthe integrated ECU 10 is activated.

Therefore, in the second embodiment, the activation instruction unit1022 of the hypervisor 102 a starts the activation preparation of theRTOS 103 a when the construction of the hypervisor 102 a proceeds andthe activation preparation of the RTOS 103 a can be started. Further,the activation instruction unit 1022 of the hypervisor 102 a preventsthe general-purpose OS 104 from starting the activation preparationbefore starting the activation preparation of the RTOS 103. The RTOS103a is similar to the RTOS103 of the first embodiment except that thevirtualization software for operating the RTOS103 a and the RTOS 103 ado not have the common kernel. Further, since the kernel of thehypervisor 102 a and the kernel of the RTOS 103 a are not common, theallocation unit 1021 of the hypervisor 102 a may perform the functionwithout depending on the control of the RTOS 103 a.

According to the configuration of the second embodiment, the resource ofthe physical processor 101 is temporarily concentrated on the RTOS 103 aby temporary allocation when the integrated ECU 10 is activated, whichis the same as the configuration of the first embodiment Similar to thefirst embodiment, when a technology that enables multiple operatingsystems to operate in parallel is used for a vehicular control devicethat displays on a display in the vehicle compartment, it becomespossible to display the display content that should be displayed quicklywhen the vehicular control device is activated while improving thereliability of these operating systems.

Embodiment 3

In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which thevehicular display system 1 includes two displays, the CID 20 and themeter MID 30, is shown, alternatively, the present embodiment may not benecessarily limited to this. For example, a display other than the CID20 and the meter MID 30 may be included in the vehicular display system1. For example, a head-up display may be used instead of the meterMID30.

Embodiment 4

In the above-described embodiment, an example of operating two OSs inparallel on virtualization software has been shown, alternatively, thepresent embodiment may not be necessarily limited to this. There may bethree or more OSs operating in parallel.

The control device, control unit and the control method described in thepresent disclosure may be implemented by a special purpose computerwhich includes a processor programmed to execute one or more functionsexecuted by computer programs. Alternatively, the control unit and thecontrol method described in the present disclosure may be implemented bya special purpose hardware logic circuit. Alternatively, the controldevice and the control method described in the present disclosure may beimplemented by one or more special purpose computers configured by acombination of a processor executing a computer program and one or morehardware logic circuits. Further, the computer program may be stored ina computer-readable non-transitory tangible storage medium asinstructions executed by a computer.

Here, the process of the flowchart or the flowchart described in thisapplication includes a plurality of sections (or steps), and eachsection is expressed as, for example, S1. Further, each section may bedivided into several subsections, while several sections may be combinedinto one section. Further, each section thus configured can be referredto as a device, module, means.

Although the present disclosure has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure isnot limited to such exemplary embodiments and structures. The presentdisclosure incorporates various modifications and variations within thescope of equivalents. In addition, various combinations and forms, andfurther, other combinations and forms including only one element, ormore or less than these elements are also within the sprit and the scopeof the present disclosure.

The controllers and methods described in the present disclosure may beimplemented by a special purpose computer created by configuring amemory and a processor programmed to execute one or more particularfunctions embodied in computer programs. Alternatively, the controllersand methods described in the present disclosure may be implemented by aspecial purpose computer created by configuring a processor provided byone or more special purpose hardware logic circuits. Alternatively, thecontrollers and methods described in the present disclosure may beimplemented by one or more special purpose computers created byconfiguring a combination of a memory and a processor programmed toexecute one or more particular functions and a processor provided by oneor more hardware logic circuits. The computer programs may be stored, asinstructions being executed by a computer, in a tangible non-transitorycomputer-readable medium.

It is noted that a flowchart or the processing of the flowchart in thepresent application includes sections (also referred to as steps), eachof which is represented, for instance, as S1. Further, each section canbe divided into several sub-sections while several sections can becombined into a single section. Furthermore, each of thus configuredsections can be also referred to as a device, module, or means.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference toembodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the disclosure is notlimited to the embodiments and constructions. The present disclosure isintended to cover various modification and equivalent arrangements. Inaddition, while the various combinations and configurations, othercombinations and configurations, including more, less or only a singleelement, are also within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicular control device that controls adisplay arranged in a vehicle compartment, the vehicular control devicecomprising: a physical processor that operates a plurality of operatingsystems in parallel on virtualization software by virtualizationtechnology; a trigger detection unit that detects an activation triggerof the vehicular control device; and an allocation unit, wherein: thephysical processor includes a plurality of physical processor coreswhich are abstracted into virtual processor cores by the virtualizationtechnology; the plurality of the operating systems includes: a firstoperating system, which is the operating system for executing a priorityapplication that is an application for displaying a display content tobe displayed preferentially when the vehicular control device isactivated; and a second operating system as an other operating system;and when the trigger detection unit detects the activation trigger toactivate the first operating system and the second operating system, theallocation unit executes a temporary allocation that temporarilyallocates the first operating system to the virtual processor cores withan allocation amount of the virtual processor cores more than apreliminarily set allocation amount of the virtual processor cores as aninitial allocation amount after an activation of the first operatingsystem is completed.
 2. The vehicular control device according to claim1, wherein: the allocation unit terminates the temporary allocation whenthe activation of the first operating system is completed at a latest.3. The vehicular control device according to claim 2, wherein: theallocation unit terminates the temporary allocation when the activationof the priority application is completed.
 4. The vehicular controldevice according to claim 2, wherein: the allocation unit allocatesoperating-time allocation amounts to each of the first operating systemand the second operating system, respectively, after the activation ofthe first operating system and the second operating system is completed;and the operating-time allocation amounts are allocation amounts of thevirtual processor cores preliminarily fixed and set as allocationamounts after the activation of the first operating system and thesecond operating system is completed, respectively.
 5. The vehicularcontrol device according to claim 3, wherein: the allocation unitallocates the operating-time allocation amounts to each of the firstoperating system and the second operating system, respectively, afterthe activation of the priority application is completed; and theoperating-time allocation amounts are allocation amounts of the virtualprocessor cores preliminarily fixed and set as allocation amounts afterthe activation of the first operating system and the second operatingsystem is completed, respectively.
 6. The vehicular control deviceaccording to claim 4, wherein: when the allocation unit allocates theoperating-time allocation amount to each of the first operating systemand the second operating system, the allocation unit allocates theoperating-time allocation amount that one or more different physicalprocessor cores are allocated to each of the first operating system andthe second operating system.
 7. The vehicular control device accordingto claim 6, wherein: when the allocation unit allocates theoperating-time allocation amount to each of the first operating systemand the second operating system, the allocation unit allocates theoperating-time allocation amount that one or more different physicalprocessor cores are allocated to each of the first operating system andthe second operating system, and physical processor cores that share acache are allocated to a same operating system.
 8. The vehicular controldevice according to claim 1, wherein: the allocation unit starts thetemporary allocation before a preparation for activating the secondoperating system is started.
 9. The vehicular control device accordingto claim 8, wherein: the first operating system uses a kernel common tothe virtualization software; the second operating system does not use akernel common to the virtualization software; and when the triggerdetection unit detects the activation trigger, a preparation foractivating the first operating system is started before the preparationfor activating the second operating system.
 10. The vehicular controldevice according to claim 1, wherein: the allocation unit allocates anentire amount of the virtual processor cores that can be allocated tothe first operating system and the second operating system to the firstoperating system at a time of the temporary allocation.
 11. A vehiculardisplay system comprising: a display arranged in a vehicle compartment;and the vehicular control device according to claim 1, which controlsthe display to display.
 12. A vehicular display control method forcontrolling a display arranged in a vehicle compartment by a vehicularcontrol device, the vehicular display control method comprising:detecting an activation trigger of the vehicular control device;abstracting a plurality of physical processor cores, which are includedin a physical processor for operating a plurality of operating systemsin parallel on virtualization software by virtualization technology,into virtual processor cores by the virtualization technology; and whendetecting the activation trigger to activate a first operating systemand a second operating system, executing a temporary allocation thattemporarily allocates the first operating system to the virtualprocessor cores with an allocation amount of the virtual processor coresmore than a preliminarily set allocation amount of the virtual processorcores as an initial allocation amount after an activation of the firstoperating system is completed, wherein: the plurality of the operatingsystems includes: the first operating system, which is the operatingsystem for executing a priority application that is an application fordisplaying a display content to be displayed preferentially when thevehicular control device is activated; and a second operating system asan other operating system.